Top of page

Category: Cookbooks and Food

A botanical drawing of a pumpkin with vines, flower, and fruit

A Brief History of Pumpkin Pie in America

Posted by: Ellen Terrell

Even with the wide availability, popularity and convenience of both frozen and bakery pies, many people continued to bake their own pumpkin pies.  For some late 20th century cooks, that may have meant stewing a pie pumpkin, but many baby boomers grew up associating pumpkin pie with the recipe on the back of the pumpkin can, the one with evaporated milk, eggs, canned pumpkin, a prebaked crust—and pumpkin pie spice.

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

On the Subject (Heading) of Bourbon Whiskey

Posted by: Ellen Terrell

Today’s post is guest authored by Michelle Cadoree Bradley, a Science Reference Specialist in the Library’s Science, Technology, and Business Division who has previously written – Rise of the Broom Brigade and Marie Curie: A Gift of Radium. Is it Bourbon or is it Whiskey? “Not all whiskey is bourbon, but all bourbon is whiskey,” …

Silver stylized owl with radiant circles around its head, surrounded by a gold frame

Broccoli, Opossum, and Gingerbread: Presidential Food

Posted by: Ellen Terrell

Today’s post is written by science librarian and culinary specialist Alison Kelly. She has provided her expertise in a number of Inside Adams blog posts related to food history and cooking such as Early American Beer, and Early Mixology Books. Abraham Lincoln liked gingerbread cookies, William Howard Taft enjoyed roast opossum, and Ronald Reagan always …